Method for forming a textile carrier



Jan. 12, 1965 H. G. HOWLE ETAL METHOD FOR FORMING A TEXTILE CARRIER Filed Feb. 14, 1962 United States Patent M The present invention relates to a method of making plastic carriers, such as cones, bobbins, tubes, cores, etc., for carrying yarns, fabrics, paper, and other similar materials. More particularly, the invention relates to the method of making plastic carriers with roughened slipresistant surfaces that reduce slipping of the wound material during winding and unwinding operations. The term carriers as used herein is intended to define genericaily all types of cores, tubes, cones, bobbins and the like. This patent application is a continuation-inpart of the patent application entitled Plastic Carriers and Method of Froducing Sme, filed Gctober 23, 1959, by the same inventors and which is identified by- Serial No. 848,249, now abandoned.

Carriers are essential elements in the production and packaging of numerous windable materials such as yarn, wire, sheet material, etc., and are made of various materia s such as paper, wood, metal and the like. Carriers formed from paper are widely used today for winding materials such as textile yarns, foils, films, fabrics, paper sheets and other similar materials. Paper carriers are relatively inexpensive and can be surface treated in many ways to provide them with a surface which resists the slipping of material wound thereon. However, most paper carriers are not suficiently rugged to permit repeated reuse as paper is easily deformed or otherwise easily damaged when struck or dropped, is dimensionally unstable when exposed to moisture and dislike all of which factors militate against more than a single use.

Further, paper absorbs dyes and other liquids which may contaminate material woundon the carrier. Thus, al-

though each paper carrier may be relatively inexpensive,

the paper or by forming carriers of other material, such as plastic. Flastic is tougher than paper and does not absorb moisture or liquids. Thus a dimensionally stable, non-contaminating and reusable carrier can be madeof plastic. However, plastic is more expensive than paper and the smooth surface texture of plastic is not suitable for many carrier uses such as with textile material as the material wound thereon is not retained against slipping during the winding and unwinding operations. 'Thus it is necessary to add a special material to the plastic and/ or to treat the surface in some way to produce a roughened slip-resistant surface, resulting in additional costs of material and processing. Prior to the present invention these added costs have increased the total cost of plastic carriers to the extent that, nowithstanding their reusability, they have not replaced paper carriers for commercial use.

Accordingly, this invention contemplates the provision of a new and novel carrier that may be formed entirely of plastic material Without any special additive a ssssl Patented Jan. 12, 19%5 and that has a roughened slip-resistant surface produced integrally on the body of the carrier in a simple and inexpensive operation, and yet is long wearin Thus the carrier can be reused repeatedly and, as a result, is commercially competitive with paper carriers.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and novel textile cone formed of synthetic plastic material which utilizes the plastic material of its surface to provide a yarn retentive surface.

A further object of this invention is to provide anew and novel method of making a plastic textile cone with a yarn retentive surface which utilizes inexpensive readily available equipment having a low operating cost and which method includes a few simple steps which can be carried out quickly by relatively unskilled labor.

Gther objects and advantages of the invention will be-' come apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

in general, the objects of the invention and ot er re-- lated'objects are accomplished by providing a molded textile carrier such as a cone having a body formed from synthetic plastic material. The plastic body is' rotated in the presence of a flame of high velocity gases. This 7 high velocity flame impinges on substantially the entire outer surface of the body with the exception of a portion adjacent one end at which yarn takeofi occurs. The imp-ingement of the flame on the body surface causes softening or melting of the plastic and the velocity of the gases blows small ripples or ridges into the melted plastic surface. Also, the flame causes oxidation of the surface molecules which results in a less slippery surface. Thus, a roughened slip-resistant yarnretentive surface is provided on the plastic body to which yarn and the like will cling during windingwith the attendant elimination of slippage.

The plastic carrier of the present invention is especially adaptable for use as a textile cone. Textile cones are commonly made of paper, but, as indicated above, paper cones are capable of only limited reuse whereas it would be advantageousin many situations to have a reusable cone, such as in integrated mills, where winding and unwinding operations are performed in the same mill and empty cones can be returned for reuse without sh pping cost. Cones made entirely of plastic have not been commercialiy acceptable because the taper of the cone and theunwinding of the yarn from the cone in the direction of the small end requires a yarn-retentive surface to prevent slipping and sloughing. However, by the present invention a tough long-wearing plastic cone can be produced with a roughened slip-resistant surface that'is' best understood by reference to the following descrip-' tion taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a plastic carrier undergoing treatment in accordance with the novel process of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plain view of the carrier treating operation shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an elevation view of a plastic carrier treated in accordance with the invention; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3 in the direction of the arrows.

As specifically illustrative of the invention, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a textile carrier undergoing a treatment in accordance with the novel method of the invention. In the specific embodiment illustrated the textile carrier, designated generally by the numeral 11, is of conical shape and has a body formed from a synthetic plastic material such as polyethylene. It should be understood that the plastic carrier or cone 1?. may be of any other. suitable plastic material such as polystyrene, polypropylene, vinyl polymer, cellulosic polymer, phennolic, urea, and the like.

The plastic cone 11 includes a body 12 having an outer surface 13. The upper end of the body 12 terminates in an apex or yarn take-off end 14 and the opposite end of the body 12 is identified hereinafter as the base end 16. The plastic cone 11 is suitably supported for rotation in the direction of the arrows I by means such as a spindle 1'7 suitably tapered so as to be received within the interior of the cone 11 in a snug fitting engagement therewith and support the cone in an upright position for rotation on its vertical axis; Thespindle 17 is preferably supported on a rotatable shaft 18 driven by any suitable means (not shown).

Means are provided for melting the surface 13 of the plastic cone. 11 and forming randomly distributed irregularly shaped ripples on the melted plastic surface which when cooled form a yarn retentive winding surface on the cone surface 13. More specifically, a high velocity flame is applied along the cone surface 13 by means such as a burner'19 of any well-known construction. The

burner 19 may be supplied with fuel such as gas or the like by means of a supply line 21 having positioned therein a regulating valve 22.

The flame preferably comprises a plurality of jets 24- which emanate from a row of orifices 26 in the forward face 27 of the burner 19. The pressure of the gas within the burner 19 is selected so that the jets 24 are of relatively high velocity and produce a flow of the softened or melted plastic material on the cone surface 13.

As can be seen, the orifices 26 are of progressively increasing diameter from the cone yarn take-off end 14 towards the base end 16 of the cone 11 and therefore produce jets 24 of progressively increasing size or intensity in the same direction. As can be understood, this increasing flame intensity from the end 14 to the end 16 of the cone is necessary due to the progressively increasing cone surface area towards the base end 16 to be swept by the flames during the practice of the novel process of the invention.

When the cone 11 is positioned on the driving spindle 17, the burner 19 is positioned as shown with its forward face 27 substantially parallel to the surface of the cone 13. The length of the burner 19 is selected so that the bank of flame'jets 24 extends along substantially the entire length of the cone 11 with the exception of a portion 28 adjacent the apex end 14. This end portion 23 remains untreated so as to provide a smooth yarn take-01f portion adjacent this end of the cone 1.

The burner 19 is also positioned as shown in FIGURE 2 so that the bank of flame jets 24 extends substantially tangential to the outer surface 13 of the cone 11. Thus the high velocity of the flame jets 24 may more readily rnove the plastic material of the cone surface 13 as it is softened or melted. t I

- In the operation of the invention, the burner 19 is positioned. as shown and ignited to produce the bank of flame Y jets 2 4 and the plastic conell is positioned as shown and Home jets 24 may be varied in accordance with the end result desired but the combination of these factors should be such so as to do substantially no more than produce a melting or softening of the outer plastic surface of the cone 11 although some slight burning of the material of the cone surface 13 does not inhibit obtaining the novel results of the invention.

The high velocity of the flame jets 24 and the tangential relationship with the jets 24 with the cone surface 13 as shown in FIGURE 2 produce a movement of the plastic material in the cone surface 13 as soon as it has become softened or melted so that the entire outer surface of the cone with the exception of the portion 23 has formed therein irregularly shaped ripples identified in FIGURES 3 and 4 by the numeral 31. As soon as the ripples 31 are formed in the cone surface, the cone 11 is removed from the flame 2 and permitted to cool so that the ripples harden so that the cone has the ripples 31 permanently formed therein. In addition, the flame causes oxidation of the surface molecules of the plastic in the cone surface 13 which adds to the yarn retentive qualities of the surface.

With the novel method of the invention, and the resulting product, there has been provided a simple and easy arrangement for quickly forming a yarn retentive surface on a plastic cone which before treatment or in its natural form is quite slippery and unsuitable as a textile carrier. No additional material is required to form this surface and the method can be adapted readily to production line operation. The method of the invention may be used readily on a wide variety of plastic cone materials and the apparatus employed to treat the plastic cone is both simple in construction and extremely inexpensive to operate. At the same time, a plastic cone having a yarn retentive surface of superior yarn gripping qualities is obtained.

While there has been described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein Without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is the aim of the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall Within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, that which is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a textile carrier comprising the steps of, providing a tubular body formed from a synthetic plastic material, melting substantially all of the outer surface of said body except a portion adjacent one end, and moving said melted plastic surface to form randomly distributed irregularly shaped ripples on said surface and cooling said surface to set said ripples and form a yarn retentive winding surface on said body.

2. A method of forming a textile carrier comprising the steps of, providing a tubular body formed from a synethetic plastic material, impinging substantially all of the outer surface of said body except a portion adjacent one end with a high velocity flame to melt said surface and to form randomly distributed irregularly shaped ripples on said surface and cooling said surface to set said ripples and form a yarn retentive winding surface on said body.

3. A method of forming a textile carrier comprising the steps of, providing a conical body formed from a synethetic plastic material, impinging the outer surface of said body except a portion adjacent the apex of said body with a high velocity flame to melt said surface and to 'form randomly distributed irregularly shaped ripples on said surface and cooling said surface to set said ripples and form a yarn retentive winding surface on said body. 4. A method of forming a textile carrier comprising the steps of, providing a conical body formed from a synthetic plastic material, rotating said conical body on its vertical axis, impinging the outer surface of said body except a portion adjacent the apex of said body with a relatively narrow high velocity flame of substantially uniform width extending longitudinally along said surface to melt said surface and to form randomly distributed irregularly shaped ripples on said surface, said flame having a progressively increasing intensity towards the base or" said conical body and cooling said surface to set said rippies and form a yarn retentive Winding surface on said body.

5. A method in accordance With claim 4 including the gential to the surface of said conical body.

References (Iited by the Exer- UNITED STATES PATENTS V Aller 18-48 Coney 18-48 Meretey 242-11832 Tobias 18-48.8 Crawley 242-11832 ALEXANDER H. BRODMERKEL, Primary Examiner.

MECHAEL V. BRINDISI, ExaminerJ 

1. A METHOD OF FORMING A TEXTILE CARRIER COMPRISING THE STEPS OF, PROVIDING A TUBULAR BODY FORMED FROM A SYNETHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL, MELTING SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID BODY EXCEPT A PORTION ADJACENT ONE END, AND MOVING SAID MELTED PLASTIC SURFACE TO FORM RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED IRREGULARLY SHAPED RIPPLES ON SAID SURFACE AND COOLING SAID SURFACE TO SET SAID RIPPLES AND FORM A YARN RETENTIVE WINDING SURFACE ON SAID BODY. 